


You Don't Owe Me

by orphan_account



Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies), The Avengers (Marvel) - All Media Types
Genre: Avengers: Age of Ultron (Movie) Spoilers, Drabble, F/M, Fluff, M/M, Multi, Open Relationships
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-05-16
Updated: 2015-05-16
Packaged: 2018-03-30 20:54:30
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,110
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3951391
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/orphan_account
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>SHIELD had an old rule: You recruit them, you train them.</p><p>There's just enough of SHIELD left that Pietro and Wanda are Clint's responsibility.  </p><p>~~~~<br/>This is mostly Clint/Pietro fluff because I was in the mood for a happier ending!</p>
            </blockquote>





	You Don't Owe Me

**Author's Note:**

> No beta for this one so I'm sorry if I missed any errors!

“So SHIELD’s a thing again, huh?” Clint asks Fury, when the man steps out from behind a tree about three seconds after Natasha's dropped him off at the farm. “You know, for all the time you spend here, maybe you could have mentioned that.”

“SHIELD wasn’t mine to mention,” Nick says. “And that’s not why I’m here. Did you tell the Maximoff girl she could be an Avenger?”

“Wait-- what?” Clint asks. “I almost die. The fast kid dies....” Clint stumbles a little over the words there. Just don’tthinkaboutitdon’tthinkaboutitdon’tthinkaboutit. “We _all almost died_ , and you’re worried I’m inviting people into the club without asking first? Tony created Killer Wall-E and that’s way worse. If you’re handing out lectures he should get his first. And then Bruce, because he helped. And then Steve, because of that whole accountability of leadership thing. Basically, I’m the last name on the list of who fucked up this time.”

“There’s no list and I didn’t say I was worried about you passing out invitations,” Nick corrects. “It’s just you know the rule. You recruit-- you train.”

“That was a SHIELD rule.”

“And like you said, SHIELD’s a thing again. Congratulations, you’ve got Natasha 2.0.”

Clint’s balls hurt just thinking about it. He can’t recall the number of times Natasha had kneed him in the junk in those early days of training. Hundreds of times, probably. It's a damn wonder he’s reproduced.

“Oh-- and the fast one lived. Apparently there’s a super-healing-cradle floating around in Stark Land and since the Maximoffs are a two-for-one deal, you get to train two new Avengers. Enjoy.”

Nick walks off before Clint can respond. Though even if Nick hadn’t flounced, Clint might not have had words available. Pietro was alive. The speedy son-of-a-bitch who’d taken a dozen bullets for him wasn’t going to have to exist somewhere between his nightmares of ‘what if’ and ‘if only’.

Clint leans back against the wooden fence, grown over with ivy, and takes a slow, deep breath full of relief. It wasn’t like Clint hadn’t lost people in the field before-- Pietro wasn’t even the first to take a bullet for him. But those two kids struck all his feel buttons. Orphans. Siblings. Only had each other. Trained by some jackasses to be extraordinary. Yeah, they were more extraordinary than Clint, but it just... it felt familiar.

And despite him giving Nick a hard time about the idea of training Wanda, he’d instantly glomped onto that idea, and now he's set on it.

He walks inside but Nick has beaten him to Laura. Nick’s arm is around her waist and Clint walks in at the tail end of what was no doubt one hell of a ‘hello’ kiss. Laura smiles when she sees her husband and holds out a hand to him.

Clint walks over to join them, and leans in to kiss his wife on the forehead.

“Nick filled me in," Laura says. "I’ll get the rooms ready. Our two can double up.”

“You’re the best,” Clint says, pulling away, because while he doesn’t mind sharing Laura with Nick, he and Nick aren’t a thing. “Don’t deserve you,” he adds.

“So true,” Laura agrees. “Will you be back tonight?”

“Depends on how they’re doing. You sticking around?” Clint asks Nick.

“If she’ll have me,” Nick says.

“I’ll have you alright,” Laura agrees, turning in his arms to lean up on her toes to kiss Nick deeply.

“God, get a room,” Clint laughs, heading upstairs to pack a new bag, and to say hello to the kids. He's halfway up when he turns around to call “If I’m back tonight, I’ll take the couch.”

The current set up of their family may look fucked up from the outside, but Clint really wouldn’t have it any other way. He can leave without worry when he knows Nick is here. Laura and the kids are safe, and his wife isn’t lonely. If Clint hunts down Cameron for company while he’s convincing the Maximoffs to come off grid, there won’t be any guilt in it. If Kate’s in New York for the weekend, even better.

At some point between the fence and his kitchen, Nick had emailed him a file on the specifics of the twins. Clint sees it while packing but doesn't read it until an hour later when he's on the train headed for New York. There's not much to read. SHIELD's intelligence is as scattered as its roster.

When Clint arrives in New York he walks to the tower, and the voice in the elevator jars him from his thoughts, when it’s not Jarvis. The new girl’s nice though, and she tells him Tony is with Dr. Cho in a lab on a low enough floor that it hadn’t been damaged in all the recent chaos. The twins are there too.

When Clint walks in, he expects Pietro to be on his back, recovering in a bed. Despite having had his own successful encounter with Dr. Cho’s work, it’s still hard to believe how quickly it can heal. When Clint enters, Pietro’s sitting up on a couch, sipping a smoothie through a straw, looking perfectly recovered, and Wanda’s sitting on the floor at his feet swiping her finger across a StarkPad through the news.

“Long time, no see, Barton,” Tony greets. “Not that I mind the drop in, but I’m about to head out for a board meeting that Pepper will _literally_ skin me if I miss."

"Literally?" Clint asks dubiously.

"Literally," Tony confirms. "She’s been watching Game of Thrones-- the threat is real.”

“I’m actually here to talk to these two,” Clint says, taking a seat on the arm of the couch at the far end.

“Good luck,” Tony says, before flashing Clint a smile, tired and genuine, and Clint gives Tony a playful smack on the rear as he walks past him to exit. Things might have been tense in the past week, but things between them are fine. No hard feelings.

“I should be going, too” Dr. Cho says. “Pietro-- take it easy for a day or two. Wanda, it was nice seeing you again.”

She walks out and Clint turns back to the twins.

“You missed us so much you couldn't stay away?” Pietro asks Clint with a smirk.

Wanda looks up from the news to give Clint a small smile. She doesn't speak.

“If you’re here because you think it’s your day to beat me in a foot race, I’ll have to disappoint you. I could crawl on all fours with one leg half attached and you still couldn’t keep up, old man.”

“Let’s play darts and see how you brag after that,” Clint suggests.

It’s the same banter as before but there’s a fondness that’s new. There’s really no way to go what they went through without developing some kind of truce. It’s the only way he’d managed to live through Natasha.

“Name the time and the place,” Pietro challenges.

“Tonight. My place,” Clint says. “Both of you are welcome.”

“To go with you to your house,” Pietro says, sounding slightly confused. The invitation is a surprise. 

“You two are Avengers, now, if you want to be,” Clint says plainly. “I wouldn’t blame you if you want to stay here in this swanky tower, but my place is an option, too. I’ve got a farm, and there’s plenty of land to run around and train on. My wife wants to meet the guy who saved my life, I cook the best spaghetti west of Italy, and you can meet my kids. I’ve got two, with a third one on the way.”

Wanda turns to look up at Pietro and they make eye contact. There’s nothing that Clint read that suggests they have telepathy, but they don’t have to speak to come to an agreement apparently, because Wanda speaks for them both.

“We’ll come.”

It’s as easy as that. Not-Jarvis says they can take one of Tony’s cars, and the twins don’t have any possessions to pack up. They stop at the deli before they go, and eat in the car on the way. Clint fills them in on a little more about his life, since he’s going to have to explain Nick’s presence somehow.

The introductions are easy when they make it to the farm. Sam and Sophie are thrilled with the prospect of guests, Laura’s easy smile seems to put Pietro and Wanda at ease, and Nick is Nick. They seem a little intimidated by him for the first few minutes, and then Nick goes and tells the story of Clint’s most embarrassing mission to date-- Undercover Elmo-- and all the tension is gone.

Clint tucks his kids in at 9, and Laura and Nick head up to bed, hand in hand, around 10. Wanda goes to her new room a half an hour later, and that’s when Clint picks up the darts.

“You ready to get your ass kicked?” Clint asks.

“This is going to be so embarrassing for you,” Pietro warns, with a cocky smirk.

And it turns out he’s good. He’d have beat 999 people out of a thousand, easily. But Clint is the 1 he can’t beat, and Pietro accepts the loss with surprisingly good grace. He collapses onto the couch and Clint walks over to grab two beers out of the fridge.

“You _are_ 21, right?” Clint asks.

“Americans and the arbitrary age rule,” Pietro says, rolling his eyes in exaggerated annoyance. “I am 24. I have been drinking alcohol since I was 12. Give me.”

He holds out his hand and Clint expertly smacks the very edge of the cap on the corner of the wall, causing it to fly off and land in the trash. Pietro accepts the beer without comment, as if he hasn’t just witnessed an amazing trick.

“Come on,” Clint complains. “I’m being awesome here and you’re taking it for granted.”

“I am very impressed,” Pietro deadpans. “Villains of the world, flee in terror from the able archer.”

“Smart ass,” Clint says.

They sit on opposite ends of the couch and drink their beer in silence. At some point Pietro hops up to get the second round, and they spend the rest of the night gushing about Tony's cars and making plans on stealing the really good ones. It’s nearly midnight when Clint puts down his second bottle.

“So not to rush you off or anything,” Clint says, “But I’m fucking exhausted and right now we’re sitting on my bed.”

“You have this big house and this is your bed?” Pietro asks.

“When Nick’s here, yeah,” Clint agrees. “Nick and Laura are together, and Laura and I are together, but Nick and me? Not gonna happen.”

“Because you aren’t attracted to men?” Pietro asks.

“Because I’m not attracted to Nick,” Clint says. “That’d be like fucking an uncle. Not my thing.”

“So you _are_ attracted to men,” Pietro says. 

Clint has no problem at all reading the change in Pietro’s body language and tone. And Clint knows he ought to just shut this shit down right now, but he can’t deny the lust goes both ways. 

“Hot ones,” Clint says. “Funny ones. Acrobats. I’ve got this thing for acrobats you wouldn’t believe...”

It’s meant to be funny, but he kind of trails off watching Pietro’s face. And then in less time than it takes for Clint’s eyes to track the movement, Pietro’s straddling his lap and Clint’s beer bottle is in Pietro’s hand. The younger man puts it to his lips, tilts his head back, and drains the last third. He places it on the side-table, leaning in a way that presses him flush against Clint.

“This is probably a bad idea,” Clint says. “I’m going to train you, that’s-- authority or something. And you saved my life-- that’s...” He can’t actually remember what that’s called, not because of the alcohol (two beers will barely leave him tipsy) but because Pietro has rocked against him and the weight of him against Clint is so fucking tempting.

“You don’t owe me for anything,” Clint mumbles, letting his hands run up Pietro’s side and then around to his back. “You don’t--”

“I want this,” Pietro insists. “If you want this, there’s no problem here.”

It sounds so simple when it’s put that way. Makes so much sense.

Clint tilts his chin up to meet Pietro’s lips and kisses him hard, wrapping an arm around his waist to pull him closer. Now that he’s made his decision he’s all in. Regret is for mornings, and tomorrows and daylight. Right now, Clint is ridiculously content to live in the moment.

**Author's Note:**

> This maaaaaay turn into a series of one-shots with these three training and being domestic, and of Clint and Pietro doing whatever it is the two of them do if people don't hate this. I don't really know! I just have so many ideas and feels and it is super cathartic to get them out.
> 
> Feel free to follow me on Tumblr [here](http://orbingarrow.tumblr.com) and comments and kudos are treasured like gold!
> 
> <3
> 
> Also, there is now a smutty follow-up to this written by the amazing Tatemshope if that's your thing!


End file.
